Parties and Consequences

by Maniacal_Spark

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Colgate, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Nightmare Moon, Romance, Adventure
Length: 5979

Unable to convince Moondancer of the magic of friendship in the present, Twilight Sparkle is given the chance to make amends in the past.

Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship and Magic, just screwed up. Having realized that she had friends long before she met Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, she journeyed back to Canterlot to reconnect with the ponies that she once took for granted. She finds forgiveness and acceptance from Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Minuette, but none in the forth, her long lost friend Moondancer, whose party she did not attend on the day she was ordered to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. Moondancer has since become a bitter recluse, living her life alone, buried in dusty old books in her decrepit home and the city library. And completely against making friends ever again.

Desperate to correct her mistake, Twilight devises a plan but before she can implement it, she is paid a surprise visit by Discord, who make an offer that Twilight, in her desperation, simply cannot refuse...

Published 2015-07-12 13:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-12 13:50:02 UTC

Present Prologue

"Moondancer, you have to give friendship a chance!"

Twilight Sparkle's plea was met with an angry glare from her former friend, the tan mare's horn glowing a desaturated purple as the magic flowed around Twilight, lifted her up and out of Moondancer's way as the unicorn continued on with a frustrated grunt.

"I GAVE friendship a chance a long time ago! It didn't work out then, it isn't going to work out now!"Moondancer's words cut into Twilight as she watched the mare she had hurt so long ago vanish into the Canterlotian night. The Princess of Friendship felt the tears welling up as her assistant Spike hurried over to her from across the empty street.

"Twilight, are you all right?" The dragon's voice matched the nervous, worried wringing of his claws as Twilight turned and walked towards her own home, the tower were she had once lived in the Outer Commons of Canterlot.

"No, no I'm not" Twilight's force was low and quiet, the horrible feelings inside her that had been building up ever since she had returned to Canterlot to reconnect with her friends threatening to overwhelm her composure. The alicorn heard Spike's claws clacking against the pavement as her followed quickly behind the princess.

"W-where are you going?"

"I don't know Spike, I really messed this one up. That party was everything to her, I can only imagine what it must have felt like when I didn't show up!" Twilight paused at the boundary between the Upper Markets and the Outer Commons, trying to piece together what might have happened that fateful day when she chose to go to Ponyville instead of attending what had been her first friend's party. All she could picture was Moondancer's happy face twisting into sadness as the mare was told Twilight wasn't coming. Twilight could picture it now, the unicorn slowly curling into herself and shutting out everyone else in her life because the so-called Princess of Friendship had simply been too busy to be there for her original friend, before she had met everyone else in Ponyville.

"If only there was a way to undo the damage..." Twilight was silent for awhile as she tried to keep the feeling in her chest from taking over and causing her to collapse in puddle of tears. It was her fault and she needed to fix it, but how...Twilight Sparkle gasped as the image of a certain pink pony seemed to bounce into the alicorn's mind, trailing a mess of balloons and confetti behind her. Twilight's eyes snapped open as the determination to succeed pushed back the cloud of guilt, shame and despair. Her wings seemed to flare out into the warm night air on their own and Twilight fixed Spike with a grin. It was a perfect plan, but if there was anypony that could fix a party problem...

"I know what I need to do! And I know just who can me!"

"Oh Twilight, of course I'll help you!"

Twilight Sparkle found herself wrapped up by the sinewy body of Equestria's god of chaos, Discrod, as the Draconequus grew out of the wet evening soil like a rampant weed. His sudden appearance threw the purple princess pony for a loop and for a moment all Twilight could do was hang limply tangled in Discord's limbs and torso before finally her brain responded.

"Discord!? What are you doing here?" The alicorn gasped before conjuring the familiar energies of her teleportation spell, vanishing from

Discord's arms and appearing once more on solid ground. Twilight nervously flapped her wings as Discord seemed to coil back into the ground with an audible slurp before appearing once more beside her, his lion forearm loosely wrapped around her neck.
"Well you see" He began, panning his Griffon talon arm across the starry Canterlotian sky, "I had been having a late supper with Princess Celestia and was on my way home when I just happened to look down and see you, one of my closest and dearest friends of all, having that horrible little run-in with that other mare!"

Twilight sighed and fixed Discord with her usual stare of suspicion and caution. "I see. But have you forgotten that little talk we had on not eavesdropping on the conversations of your friends?" She felt Discords weight lift off her back as the chimeric creature of chaos floated away despite the mismatched wings on his back not flapping.

"Oh I've not forgotten, but you know how hard it is to break old habits!" The look on Discord's face was anything but apologetic, and Twilight rolled her eyes and turned away from his hovering form, flapping her wings as she herself took to the air, grabbing Spike as she quickly picked up speed.

"C'mon Spike, we just need to get Pinkie and I'm certain we'll get through to Moondancer!" Twilight's voice was confident, but just as the spires of Canterlot seem to fall away from her as she and her dragon assistant veered south towards Ponyville, suddenly the entire capital city seemed to crash down from above her. Twilight screamed and braced herself for the coming impact.

Yet none came.

When Twilight opened her eyes she found herself suspended upside down in the air only a few feet from where she had grabbed Spike, with Discord laying casually on a house that had been missing from Ponyville for over a year, roughly around the time that Discord had appeared and ruined Twilight and Cadence's original plans for sister-in-law bonding. With a groan of frustration Twilight attempted to right herself, yet only succeeded in causing Spike to lose his grip on her mane and fall screaming into the night sky.

"Spike!" Twilight cried out, only to watch Discord and the strange inflated house her was perched on swoop on and catch the diminuitive dragon, bringing him safely down to a 'normal' altitude.

"Oops, I'm sorry Twilight! I forgot that ponies aren't used to having their personal gravity inverted!" With a snap of Discord's talon, suddenly the word was righted, and Twilight plummeted the few feet to the ground with a yelp of surprised.

"Discord!. What. Do. You . Want!?" The princess of friendship growled as she pulled herself out of the dew coated grass while Spike leapt from the chaos trickter's mobile home throne and scampered to Twilight's side. Then suddenly Spike vanished in a flash of white light, only to reappear in the distance, a silhouette in the window of the popular Donut Shop.

"Want?" The magical being gasped in obvious fake shock, "Why, I'm here to help you Twilight! As I said, I want to help you mend the error of your ways with Doonmancer!"

"Moondancer."

"The name isn't the point! What matters is that you hurt a friend, and I can give you the opportunity to make sure that both of you never have to feel the pain of a lost friendship!"

Even with his exceedingly good behavior in the months following Tirek's defeat, his actions at the Grand Galloping Gala only a few weeks ago had justified Twilight's continued suspicion of Discord's motivations. After all, he was the avatar of chaos, playing by the rules just wasn't nor would ever be in his nature. Twilight shook her head and opened her eyes to tell Discord goodnight when she realized the Draconequus was now directly beneath her face, his boy and the house he rode upon now no bigger than a foal. Yet his eyes were almost larger than his head and watery, his lip quivering as he clasped his paw and talon together. And that was when Twilight remembered that she was the princess of friendship, and even if she didn't trust him very much, Discord was still her friend. Besides, what harm was there in simply hearing him out? She could still always tell him no and still make good time to Ponyville before it got too late to call on Pinkie's help. With a single deep breathe to center herself, Twilight lowered herself to her flank and nodded to Discord.

"Okay, okay. What do you have in mind?"

The Draconequus exploded in a shower of what looked to be confetti and streamers, enough to make Pinkie Pie proud, but a closer look showed that each piece of confetti contained a dancing Discord , while each streamer was actually a miniature version of the creature of chaos. The party favors suddenly disappeared as one streamer landed upon Twilight's muzzle and instantly reformed into Discord's proper, if tiny, frame. He fixed Twilight with a serious look and with a wave of his hand, pulled a pointing stick painlessly from one of the purple alicorn's hair follicles and pointed to each side of his body where two sparkling frames appeared, each with an image of Moondancer; one happy, one the same face Twilight had seen only a few moments ago.

"I present with you a choice, Twilight Sparkle!" Discord's voice, while tiny, was no less filled with grandiose and bravado, "These images represent Goon Prancer-"

"Moondancer"

"These images represent Moondancer moments before you crushed her emotions and scarred her soul by skipping her party years ago, and the other represents the same pony who just left, one who has lived several years as a introverted hermit who does nothing but read books and let life pass her by" With a flash Discord was once again his normal size, although now he was sitting in a red high-backed leather seat, large reflective shades covered his yellow and red eyes as he held both frames in his talon and paw. Twilight looked at both images and then back to Discord, her movements and face reflected in the sunglasses despite the lack of a strong enough light source.

"What's the catch?" she said, hoping that was all it took to end the ruse so she could get on with her plan. Although if this was what Discord said it was...Twilight couldn't help it, her guilty conscience and curiosity were piqued.

"There is no catch." Discord's face was impassive, his voice a flat monotone. The sheer lack of any of his normal overflowing personality was eerie and Twilight felt a shiver run down her spine despite the warm summer air. Discord's face shifted slightly towards the framed image in his talon of the present version of Moondancer, a recluse in a black turtleneck whose life consisted of waking up, studying, and going to sleep; "Choose this option, and I go home. You get to continue on your way, knowing that your plan might not work, and all you'll have to show for it is a pony, hollowed out and broken because you made a mistake that you can't fix" Discord nodded to the magical frame in his unfurled paw that contained the past, cheerful version of Moondancer, a ponytail-less, turtleneck-less mare whose face was an enormous smile as she set up a table full of party food; "Choose this option, and you go down the rabbit hole. You'll go directly to the party along with Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts and get to see how happy it makes Moondancer, keeping her from becoming the mess she is today"

Twilight sat back for a moment, not realizing that she was no longer on the grass but in a leather chair of her own. Her right hoof tapped her lips as she stared at both suspended images in front of her of two very different Moondancers. It couldn't be that simple, could it? After all this was Discord and no matter how good he might have become, nothing was ever simple with him.

"What happens if I choose to go to the party? That's in the past, before I became a princess and met all of my current friends? What happens to that?" Twilight's eyes scanned over Discord's impassive face, but his form was like a statue and the only movement was her own reflection in those impenetrable sunglasses he had conjured up.

"You will inhabit your previous physical form but you will retain all of your your memories and all the accumulated knowledge you have gained over the past two years, but you will be unable to cast any magical spells that were beyond your abilities at that moment in the past. You will lose your wings and return to your original height as a unicorn" Discord's voice felt far away as he droned on, as if the Draconequus was not truly there in front of Twilight. "But you will return here, to the present, with all of your abilities and alicorn attributes restored, after one day."

"So this is just a temporary event, like the old time travel spell I used to go one week into the past, but for only half a minute? But just more powerful?"Twilight still was not convinced, but the option sounded more appealing than it had been only a minute ago.

"Correct."

"But how-" Twilight started but Discord leaned forward in his chair, the leather squeaking noisely in the still night air of Canterlot. Twilight edged back slightly in her own chair as her reflections in Discord's glasses came so close that she could almost see an infinite reflection of herself from her eyes back into the glasses.

"Twilight, I cannot hold these open forever. Make your choice."

Electricity shot down her spine and Twilight felt her fur on her coat bristle. Frowning, she leaned in to meet Discord, her hoof outstretched towards the portal that showed Moondancer the Recluse, bushy eyebrows furrowed and a tight frown beneath broken glasses, a book shoved in her face as she ignored and was ignored by everypony around her. Twilight felt the shame and guilt gripping her heart at the image but there was still a chance she might be able to fix it herself...

"Remember. All I am offering you is the chance to correct your mistake. Going to her party will alter Moondancer's life for the better. Your plan can still fail and she'll be left more broken inside because of it. And it will be your fault. However, in the end, the choice to be a good or bad friend and the consequences are yours, and yours alone." Discord's voice stopped Twilight's hoof a mere inch from touching the image that represented the current Moondancer. The alicorn's eyes flickered between Discord, her own twinned reflection in the sunglasses and back to the images in front of her, her eyes lingering on the smiling past version of Moondancer for a moment.

A moment was all the horrible feeling within her needed as it surged forth and seized Twilight Sparkle's heart completely. In that brief moment of crushingly silent electro-chemical debate, Twilight's hoof slid from Discord's talon to the brown-furred paw and tapped the smiling image of Moondancer.

Author's Note

Hello everyone. This was my attempt to write a new story from a Equestria Daily writing prompt based off of the episode of "Amended Fences". in which Twilight attends Moondancer's party. Unfortunately I was unable to submit at the deadline as my Internet Service Provider basically shut down across my entire region this week, and making it generally impossible to have access to the Internet. Not being able to make the deadline for this has me pretty bummed out, but oh well, it is what it is, and now I can, at least, submit this is chapters instead of giant block of text. And hey, if you guys like it enough we can see about finishing it!

This was also my first attempt at writing since I lost all my other work from the hard drive crash earlier this year, so it might be a tiny bit rusty and rough in spots. Hopefully you can still enjoy it nonetheless. Suggestions for a new title are welcome!

Present Past

The Canterlot night dissolved immediately into nothing with a loud bang that made Twilight Sparkle's ears ring as her body seemed to contort and twist as a prismatic shower of colors immediately swirled into existence to fill the otherwise empty void. Twilight opened her mouth to scream but in an instant found herself firmly planted on the grass next to a willow tree that was warming in the early morning sun. Her head swam with dizziness and her first attempt to move was met with a flailing of hooves and aching muscles before the world heaved backwards. With a gasp, Twilight fell to her haunches and waited, her hooves clutching her head as the strange after-effects of the spell dissipated, the world of past Canterlot coming into focus as the familiar pond grounds near the Outer Commons of the Canterlot Palace stabilized and became still once more. The ringing in her ears subsided and the time traveling equine could hear birds singing from the nearby trees caused a small smile to break out across Twilight's face and she slowly pulled herself back onto all four hooves, stretching out the muscles along her sides as her wings-

"My wings!" Suddenly Twilight felt the absence of her wings marking her as an alicorn had completely vanished, replaced by her old saddlebag filled with books and scrolls. With a burst of telekinetic magic Twilight flung the saddlebag away, it's contents spilling out onto the ground near the still pond with a muted thud as Twilight gasped. All that was left was the smooth purple fur of her coat that lead to the unchanged magical starburst of her Cutie Mark on both of her flanks. Twilight's eyes opened as wide as they physically could as she slowly turned in a circle, ignoring

Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, felt strangely naked and exposed. And empty. The world seemed minutely larger than it had been only moments ago, her slowly developing alicorn height had been stripped away just as her wings had bee, Remembering Discord's words, Twilight attempted a teleportation spell, one of the more complex spells she had learned after becoming the Element of Magic. The familiar pulse of magic swirled through her and gathered around her horn in it's familiar magenta aura and Twilight directed it towards the pathway that led her tower. Twilight braced herself for the sudden shift in surface texture and firmness...Yet nothing happened. The magic around her horn seemed to whine as it attempted follow through on the spell that was now second nature to Twilight. Her muscles tensed as Twilight forced every last bit of her power into the spell and yet she remained in her original position on the marble patio in front of her tower. With a sigh, Twilight let the magic dissipate, the energy flowing back into her body like water on the beach returning to the sea.

"I guess what Discord said was true, I really am a Unicorn again, at least just for a day..."
She really was back in time. This was amazing! If she had cast the time spell herself Twilight would have returned to the present by now, but she was truly here in the past! Or possibly a simulacrum of the past, depending on if she believed Discord was capable of such a feat. Despite herself, the newly re-minted unicorn felt a stupidly large smile break out across her face before taking off at a gallop towards her tower. If her memory and calculations were correct she would be reaching the Point of Divergence in three, two, one...

"There you are, Twilight!" Twinkleshine's voice called out and Twilight skidded to a stop in front of her, Minuette and Lemon Hearts. The three mares took up the entire path, with three small presents situated on their backs. It was just like Twilight remembered, only this time, the once-alicorn wouldn't make up an excuse.

"Moondancer is having a little get-together in the West Castle Courtyard, you want to come?" Twinkleshine, Minuette and Lemon Hearts all leaned in, their faces brimming with expectation. In the past, Twilight had snubbed all three mares and led to Moondancer's isolation, but here was the Point of Divergence, where she could fix everything with just a few simple words.

"Of course I want to come!" Twilight could barely contain herself and her enthusiasm caused all three of her friends to rear back in surprise, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

The three mares exchanged their shocked expressions with one another before Twinkleshine shrugged and walked forward, bumping Twilight's flank good naturedly. "Well then, let's get going!"

"Yeah!" Both Minuette and Lemon Hearts cried out, the blue-coated mare pulling Twilight in close as the as the small herd of horse friends walked down the path, girly laughter carrying across the small plaza as the quintet passed the willow tree Twilight had re-appeared under. The unicorn was too busy laughing with her friends, all of which had acted like nothing had changed to notice the jewel encrusted tome and handful of scrolls that had been dislodged from her abandoned saddlebag slowly sliding into the pond. Not long after they had passed the willow tree did the large archway that led to the Inner Commons rise up in front of the quartet. In the distance Twilight could see Moondancer zipping back and forth between a table load to the hilt with snacks and a smaller table where a large punch bowel sat waiting. Out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw Twinkleshine staring at her, a smug grin on her face.

"What?" Twilight said, turning to face her friend, who simply chuckled and turned away.

"Oh nothing. I was just so sure that you were going to make up some silly excuse about studying like you always have before...But what can I say, sometimes being wrong is really, really nice!"

"You bet it is! Race you there!" Twilight laughed, sticking her tongue out at the cream colored mare. "Last one there is a rotten parasprite!" And with that, the purple unicorn took off at a gallop while the three mares gasped in surprise before chasing after her, the presents bouncing dangerously up and down across their back before all four unicorns stumbled into each other, landing in a crumpling, giggling heap right just short of the two tables and their tan-furred owner, whose glasses had slid down her muzzle in surprise.
With a grin and a small burst of magic, Moondancer slid her glasses back up to their proper position and made her way to the four unicorns who were still giggling as they untangled and picked themselves up from the ground.

"I can see the Running of the Leaves came early this year..." Moondancer started but was almost immediately interrupted as Twilight lunged forward and gave her friend a massive hug much like a certain pink pony would have done. "GRCK! H-hi Twi...light...!" She gasped as the air vacated her lungs and her glasses tumbled back down to her muzzle and clattered to the ground.

"Oh, sorrysorrysorry!" Twilight said as she let go of her friend, her checks turning a shade darker than the rest of her coat, "I'm just so happy to see you!" Twilight didn't notice Twinkleshine giving Minuette and Lemon Hearts a knowing smile as the three of them set their gifts to Moondancer next to the cake on the end of the table.

"It's...it's okay! 'm just so glad you all could be here! Thank you so much for coming!" The bookish mare's reply was stumbling, her brain trying to process the words and the huge grin that was spreading across her face. Her horn flared pale purple as a telekinetic spell wrapped around her fallen, but luckily not broken glasses and quickly plopped them back on her face. A happy grin turned to confusion however as Moondancer looked at each of her gathered friends.

"Is Lyra coming?"

Those three words were like a dagger of ice into Twilight's heart as it tried to leap into her throat. Her jaw fell open and panic quickly spasmed aross her mind. Had it all been for nothing? was there no way to fix the past and change Moondancer's fate? Twilight felt her eyes go even wider as Moondancer turned to her, purple eyes searching for an answer.

"Oh, Lyra had to go sign her rental agreement with her new stablemate in Ponyville today, Moondancer. She really, really wanted to be here but if she didn't sign the contract she would have lost her spot to the next pony in line" It was Minuette that spoke up, pulling Moondancer's attention away from Twilight, who was no less relieved until Moondancer's searching face turned to a small smile.

"Oh well" The mare began as she used her magic to grab several cups from the table and moved slwoly over towards the punchbowl, "I guess if it was something really important then it couldn't be helped. Just more fun for us, right?" Moondancer quickly filled the cups and sent them gently sailing outwards towards each unicorn, all of which used their own magic to grab hold of the fruity drink. Save for Twilight, who nearly dropped hers as her mind reeled in relief. It wasn't over! Moondancer was, perhaps, more understanding than the purple mare expected. Or perhaps the other unicorn was not as close with the teal colored pony as she was with everyone else.

"Now, let's get this party started!" Lemon Hearts cried and slammed back the fruity drink. As if on cue, the other unicorns did as well and then the party was truly underway.

The mares played several games of pin the tail on the pony, took turns whacking a lumpy pinata until it had cracked open in a shower of sweet smelling dust that seemed to stick to the insides of Twilight's nostrils and tasted like salt. Moondancer had quietly whispered to Twilight that it had been a spell that she had been studying since the mix-up with the salt lick in their younger days. When the summer sun had become too unbearably warm in the courtyard the group had moved into a small pavilion where they had finished off the snacks with more than a few funny moments and funny faces before Twinkleshines, Minuette and Lemon Hearts brought their gifts to Moondancer floating into the pavilion, their eyes falling on Twilight who sheepishly admitted that Spike had handled the gift, leading the four other mares to giggle as they spotted the small, purple dragon running into the courtyard, the bright red package held tightly to his chest like a precious jewel. The baby dragon scampered up the small flight of stairs into the pavilion's shade and promplty fell over backwards, his little chest pumping up as he gasped for air, his claws swaying in the air with the present perched perilously in their grasp.

"Y...you...your g-gift, Mo...Moondancer!" He wheezed out, allowing his arms to go limp as Moondancer pulled the red wrapped box away from him. Twinkleshines whisked a small cup of fruit punch over to the collapsed dragon, ho accepted it the best he could and took a slow, long drag from it's contents while Moondancer carefully unwrapped the quickly delivered cargo.

"Oh, a teddy bear?" She asked, the small, generic bear hanging limply in her aura's grap.

"Every...everyone needs...a a bed...buddy!" Spike exclaimed as he pulled himself from his fellow colored beverage. "I just know you said you never had one so I figured better late than never, right?" Twilight couldn't help but feel a twinge of remorse through her pride at her young assistant, that young and even without the lessons of Ponyville has was still a better friend than the original past version of herself had been. But it was Moondancer's gasp of surprise that took her mind away from the darker thoughts and back to her present reality. The tan mare was holding a picture frame, with all seven of her friends . Tears filled the tan pony's eyes and she rushed over to Twilight, enveloping her in a huge hug.

"Oh, thank you so much Twilight!" Moondancer's voice was quivering on the edge of tears as she nuzzled the purple unicorn before turning to the other three mares in the pavilion's shade, "You don't know how much it really means to me that you all came out here today! For the longest time I always felt like...like I was just some sixth wheel that wasn't important but now I really do feel like I belong with you girls!" Moondancer spung around and once again enveloped Twilight in a hug that felt unually strong, or perhaps it was just her not being used to no longer having an alicorn's strength. Even so,Twilight couldn't help but feel her own eyes watering, something that was shared by the other mares, though Twinkleshine's smile seemed more than a simple grin of happiness. Even through teary eyes they seemed to be studying Twilight and Moondancer, but the former alicorn did her best to ignore it. Surely Twinkleshine was just curious at her formerly bookish friend's change of heart on social events, right?

The rest of the afternoon passed relatively quickly, the small herd of mares cleaning up the remains of the party and walking leisurely through the grounds of the palace before eventually ending up in the Market District where they browsed through stores and storefronts, Moondancer sticking close to Twilight's side the entire time, and Twinkleshines's smile simply growing wider during the whole trip. Celestia's sun had dipped low in the sky before the herd had entered the donut shop, where the mares had decided to call it a day, having one last sugary meal together before one by one they filtered out, Twinkleshine shooting Twilight a wink before she passed out of the shop and into the Canterlotian streets, leaving the violet equine alone with Moondancer and Spike, who was at the shop's bar, engaged in a deep conversation with the shop's owner; Pony Joe. Looking out the window with a sigh, Twilight knew her time was almost up, soon she'd be whisked back to the future to see the results of her trip through time. The mare couldn't lie to herself, she was actually quite excited to see what had changed. It was then that Moondancer truly seemed to open up, despite having been sociable the entire day.

"Oh Twilight, I really can't tell you how much it really means to me that you came today." The tan mare's face was lit by the last rays of the sun and her red mane seemed to light on fire in the brilliant sunset, "I've been working, building, up the courage to do something like this for years! I don't know if I could have taken it if you hadn't shown up. It's no secret that I've always...liked you more than the others."

'I know what would have happened, and I'm so glad that gave me the change to make things right.' Twilight said to herself, picturing the reclusive Moondancer that had stormed off the night before, but she didn't dare say that to her new old friend. "Oh, I've always liked you too, Moondancer!" Twilight said instead, oblivious to the widening eyes of the other mare, "We've always had so much in common, I'm just glad to have come. This is a pretty special day."

Moondancer's hoof slid across the table and laid gently on Twilight's own for a few seconds in the quiet shop before pulling away as if it's owner had been shocked. The mare's cheeks turned a flustered red before the mare began blabbering about several different spells she had been studying, all of which Twilight had mastered in the future, but she indulged the other mare in speculation until finally the fiery orb of light had sunk below the horizon and the grand moon and begun to rise into the sky. The banter between the two barely ceased even after Twilight, Moondancer, and Spike had found themselves politely shuffled out of the donut shop, the trio eventually finding themselves back at Twilight's tower in the Outer Commons.

"I...guess this is where we say goodnight?" Moondancer asked, her left foreleg rubbing her right as she looked down at the marble patio on which they stood.

Twilight knew that she'd transition back to her original time period soon, but remembered that Moondancer had never actually been in her tower before. Surely her past-present self would simply give her a tour even after the transition...

"Uh..."The purple unicorn began, glancing between the door to her study and Moondancer, "I was wondering if you'd want to come in? I just realized I've never had you over!"

The tan mare, now almost ghostly white in the pale moonlight, gasped and blushed as she nodded sheepishly.

"Great!" Just let me go straighten a few things and turn on some lamps for you first, okay?"

"O...okay!" Moondancer's voice was almost whisper quiet, yet Twilight could feel the excitement behind it. She beemed at her friend and asked

Spike to hang tight, to which the little dragon sleepily saluted as he slide from Twilight's back. The pureple mare rushed up the twisting flight of steps quicker than she ever remembered and barely paused for breath as she nearly crashed through tthe door to her study. She had barely gotten two feet in the door, her magic aura priming as she aimed it at several magical lamps hanging in the entryway when she felt the bottom of her stomach give away.

The darkened world of Canterlot fell away, all of it dissolving in a whirl of colors that seemed to twist and bend along with her body. Twilight tried to scream, but once more the trip was over before it seemed like it had truly begun, the world snapping back into place, her ears ringing loudly and she stumbled forward and fell on something hard and cold. She however remembered the disorientation the previous trip had caused and simply huddled on the floor, her eyes closed until her mind seemed to stop spinning. When Twilight Sparkles opened her eyes once more, it felt as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Before her was a dark wasteland, lit only by the rays of an eclipsed sun that hung dangerously low on the horizon, the dark shape of the moon blocking nearly all of the life giving light. The distant Caterhorn on which Canterlot sat was shattered, a handful of jagged peaks overlooking the silhouette of a decimated city. The grand waterfalls that had pour down the mountainside were gone, and the great lake at the base of the mountain, what was left of it, was frozen.

And that was when she realized her wings had not returned.

Author's Note

Chapter one of our story, in which Twilight Sparkle travels back in time via Discordian magic to attened Moondancer's party and stop her from becoming a recluse.

I've never done shipping before. I've written romance in original stuff but pony stuff just...feels weird. Maybe, if this goes anywhere else, I'll get used to it. Let me know what you thought! As this was part of a Equestria Daily whose deadline I unfortunately missed, I actually have what was going to be the 'ending' written, but my ISP dropped the ball and left me unable to access the Internet on my PC. Stories cannot be written on a cellphone, ISP.

But I'm not entirely happy with the ending I have written, since I was striving to stay within the 7000 word limit that the prompts impose, so it's a bit rushed and is in dire new of a re-write. Again, this is my first written work for anything since my hard drive crashed just over a year ago, so I'm pretty out of practice. Constructive feedback is highly appreciated; let me know what you think so far!